Ad Format Guide · Updated 2026

Connected TV & Streaming (CTV/OTT): Every Ad Format Explained (2026)

Connected TV brings TV-quality video ads to programmatic buying for the first time, delivered through streaming apps rather than traditional broadcast — and it's the single fastest-growing category on this entire page as viewing habits keep shifting away from linear cable.

Programmatic CTV Ads

Streaming TV ad inventory bought and sold via real-time auction, exactly like web programmatic display — brings the targeting precision and measurability of digital to the biggest screen in the house.Auction-based

Addressable TV Ads

Different ad creative shown to different HOUSEHOLDS watching the exact same broadcast at the exact same moment, made possible by smart-TV data — a fundamentally different capability than anything traditional broadcast TV ever offered.Household-level

Platform-Specific CTV Ads

Ad inventory sold directly by streaming platforms themselves — Hulu, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung TV Plus — each with its own first-party viewer data and targeting tools.Platform-direct

Interactive CTV Ads

Shoppable or QR-code-enabled TV ads that let a viewer act on a second screen (their phone) without ever leaving the show they're watching — bridges the passive-viewing gap that's dogged TV advertising for decades.Second-screen

Pause Ads

A static ad shown on-screen the moment a viewer pauses their streaming content — a genuinely captive, zero-competing-content moment few other formats can claim.Captive moment

Other ad formats

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